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County Executive orders hiring of private contractors for removing downed trees

National Guard units, State DOT units and County crews remain on duty, but "the public safety urgency requires that we move more aggressively"

October 17, 2006

Conferred with Governor

Statement of Erie County Executive

After conferring again this morning with Governor Pataki, I have ordered our emergency command to immediately hire qualified contractors who can get the debris off our streets and out of the way.

I made this decision because we have reached the limit of public resources. We have to move with more help and we have to do it now.

We have received an additional 125 troops from the National Guard, and they will continue to be deployed; we have received 80 crews from the State Department of Highways and they will continue to be deployed; we have mobilized all County parks and public works crews; all available town, village and city crews have been mobilized – but it is still not enough.

Qualified contractors will be hired if and only if they go through the process. I will not stand for any price-gouging in this emergency. Don't even think about it. If you even dream of price-gouging in this emergency, wake up and apologize.

We have informed every town supervisor and city mayor of this decision. I want to commend every town, city, state and federal official for their cooperation.

We have identified staging areas for collecting debris.

We have also identified a central dumpsite of 50 acres on the former Bethlehem Steel site. I am grateful for the assistance of Mittal Steel company for their immediate positive response to my request.

I have several other important announcements at this time.

  1. We are asking our federal representatives to help with our urgent food stamp problem. Over 90,000 people in our county – over 10 percent of our population – are eligible for food stamps and who need this federal assistance because the power went out and their food went bad. I want to thank the entire federal delegation for their help.
  2. FEMA assessment teams are in the field. I want to thank FEMA for its extraordinary commitment and help.
  3. FEMA is today deploying 92 generators in cooperation with the Army Corps of Engineers.
  4. I am delighted to report volunteer groups coming in. tomorrow a contingent from the national Baptists Convention will arrive to help senior citizens and the needy in clearing debris. We will have more on this later.
  5. Governor Pataki waived the local share contribution for the cleanup. That's why we can move so quickly to get going on hiring outside help. I am grateful to the governor and his staff for moving so quickly.